The Cost of Green Revisited (2007)

Davis Langdon. 25 pp. Revisiting the question of the cost of incorporating sustainable design features into projects, this paper builds on the work undertaken in the earlier paper “Costing Green: A Comprehensive Cost Database and Budget Methodology,” released in 2004. The report summarizes the developments that occurred over the subsequent three years, as sustainable design has become more widely accepted and used. Includes data on ambulatory medical buildings. Significant conclusions: there is no significant difference in average costs for green buildings as compared to non-green buildings. Many project teams are building green buildings with little or no added cost, and with budgets well within the cost range of non-green buildings with similar programs.http://www.davislangdon.com/USA/Research/ResearchFinder/2007-The-Cost-of-Green-Revisited/

Demystifying First Cost Green Building Premiums in Health Care (2009)

HERD Journal, Summer, 2009. Adele Houghton, Gail Vittori, Robin Guenther. This study assesses the extent of “first-cost green building construction premiums” in the healthcare sector based on data submitted by and interviews with 13 current LEED-certified and LEED-registered healthcare project teams, coupled with a literature survey of articles on the topics of actual and perceived first-cost premiums associated with green building strategies. This analysis covers both perceived and realized costs across a range of projects in this sector, leading to the following conclusions: Construction first-cost premiums may be lower than is generally perceived, and they appear to be independent of both building size and level of “green” achievement; projects are using financial incentives and philanthropy to drive higher levels of achievement; premiums are decreasing over time; and projects are benefiting from improvements in health and productivity which, although difficult to monetize, are universally valued. (by subscription only)http://www.herdjournal.com

The Dollars and Sense of Greening Healthcare (2005)

In this cover story from Green@Work, Diane Greer reviews the data on the costs and benefits of greening healthcare. Interviews with Hackensack University Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, Turner Construction, Boulder Associates and Guenther 5 Architects highlight strategies and tools used to evaluate costs and benefits.http://www.greenatworkmag.com/gwsubaccess/05sepoct/cover.html

Green Buildings and the Bottom Line: the “New Reality” of Green Building from Environmental Cause to Financial Opportunity (2006)

2006 White Paper published by Building Design + Construction. 64 pp. What started out as a charismatic environmental crusade has matured into an established sector of the U.S. construction industry. Green building’s early adherents have proven that they can build high-quality, high-performance structures in a professional, businesslike way. Their passion has not diminished, but it has become more firmly grounded in the realities of the marketplace.http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/380760-BD_C_White_Paper_2006_Green_Buildings_and_the_Bottom_Line.php

Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits (2003)

Principal Author: Greg Kats. Contributing Authors: Leon Alevantis, Adam Berman, Evan Mills, Jeff Perlman. Available from Capital-E in Executive Summary (10pp) as prepared for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative or as a full report (134 pp). Landmark report to over 40 California state agencies that provides the first rigorous assessment of the costs and benefits of green buildings. http://www.cap-e.com/ewebeditpro/items/O59F3481.pdf

High Performance Green Building: What’s it Worth? (2009)

Produced by the Cascadia Green Building Council, Vancouver Valuation Accord and Cushman Wakefield. 40 pp. While there has been a great deal of discussion about the value that green buildings provide, there is a significant disconnect between the building/design community and the financial/investment community on how to quantify and validate this value. Further, there is no consensus between these communities regarding what exactly is meant by the term value. The primary purpose of this study is to help bridge the gap in understanding by providing information about the valuation of high performance green buildings with a focus on commercial investment office properties.http://www.cascadiagbc.org/resources/research

Living Building Financial Study (2009)

Prepared by a multi-disciplinary team, including SERA Architects, Gerding/Edlen Development, Skanska Construction, Interface Engineering, and New Buildings Institute. The Executive Summary and Matrix are available for download.
The purpose of this Financial Study is to investigate the economic obstacles to creating Living Buildings, and determine how these vary based on building type and location. Includes Providence Newberg Medical Center as one of the subject projects. http://ilbi.org/resources/research/financial-study/financial-study

Making the Business Case for High Performance Buildings (2000)

U.S. Green Building Council. 16 pp. In April 2000, the Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate convened a roundtable of public officials, real estate practitioners, academicians and other members of the U.S. Green Building Council to educate members of Congress on building design trends. The committee also invited participants to articulate the most important business reasons for designing and building high performance green buildings. While not specific to healthcare, this report captures the essence of what motivates owners to pursue green building.https://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Member_Resource_Docs/makingthebusinesscase.pdf

35pp. Report must be purchased. McGraw-Hill Construction conducted targeted market research to obtain new information on the trends and benefits of green building practices in health care facilities. The results demonstrated an increasing trend toward green building in the health care sector.http://construction.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0249-244442_ITM_analytics

Paper presented by The Center for Health design and Health Care Without Harm at a conference in September 2006 sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the “Designing the 21st Century Hospital” project. 42 pp. The paper finds that healthcare institutions that decide to construct a green building are largely motivated by the strong correlation between green building principles and their mission to provide healing and community stewardship. Traditional green building business case arguments — such as energy and water savings — played a role in assessing the project’s level of success, but the purpose for constructing and operating a green building remained the realization that leading healthcare institutions have an obligation to provide a healthy, healing environment for their patients and staff, not just a building. http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/product.jsp?id=21096